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Technicians and associate professionals · code 3511

Information and communications technology operations technicians

Information and communications technology operations technicians support the day-to-day processing, operation and monitoring of information and communications technology systems, peripherals, hardware, software and related computer equipment to ensure optimal performance and identify any problems. Tasks include - (a) operating and controlling peripheral and related computer equipment; (b) entering commands, using computer terminals, and activating controls on computer and peripheral equipment to integrate and operate equipment; (c) monitoring systems for equipment failure or errors in performance; (d) notifying supervisors or maintenance technicians of equipment malfunctions; (e) responding to program error messages by finding and correcting problems, escalating the problem to other staff or terminating the program; (f) reading job set-up instructions to determine equipment to be used, order of use, material such as disks and paper to be loaded, and to control settings; (g) retrieving, separating and sorting program output as needed, and sending data to specified users; (h) loading peripheral equipment, such as printers, with selected materials for operating runs, or overseeing loading of peripheral equipment by peripheral equipment operators. Examples of the occupations classified here: - Computer operator - Computer peripheral equipment operator - High-speed computer printer operator Some related occupations classified elsewhere: - Computer network technician - 3513

A good share of the tasks are affected. It ranks 342 of 427 for holding up against AI.

Also known as

  • data centre operator

Job titles from the EU's ESCO list. Search for any of them on the jobs page and you'll end up here.

57.1
Holds up
against AI Exposed: Gradient 2

AI could take on 42.9 of 100, on average
so it holds up at 100 − 42.9 = 57.1

That's the whole sum, and you can check it against the ILO's study.

20
How hands-on
out of 100

From O*NET, averaged across 9 US jobs , so treat it as rough

17.8
How fiddly
and cramped

finger skill 24 · hand skill 17.1 · cramped spaces 12.5 · averaged

Kind of hands-on work · hands-on under 50 Less than half hands-on

Less than half of this job is hands-on. Robots still matter, but for a smaller part of the work, so we don't sort it any further.

estimated O*NET 31.0 BLS occupational crosswalk chain ISCO-08 to 2010 SOC (Aug 2012, rev. Jun 2015); 2010 to 2018 SOC (Nov 2017); O*NET-SOC 2019 taxonomy data 0.7-work-setting measures chosen by Frey & Osborne (2017) · the grouping is a sorting, not a measurement

What this number leaves out This job rates 20 out of 100 for how hands-on it is. The score above only looks at AI tools, not robots, but for work this far from the physical that matters less.

The tasks behind the score

The score is the average of these. A job is really a bundle of tasks, and an average can hide how uneven that bundle is.

The task AI could do most of scores 67, while the average is 42.9. A big gap means some of this job is wide open to AI and some of it barely at all. That's quite different from a job where everything sits somewhere in the middle, even when the averages match.

  1. 67

    Retrieving, separating and sorting programme output as needed, and sending data to specified users

    Medium
  2. 50

    Reading job set-up instructions to determine equipment to be used, order of use, material such as disks and paper to be loaded, and control settings

    Medium
  3. 47

    Responding to programme error messages by finding and correcting problems, escalating the problem to other staff or terminating the programme

    Low
  4. 43.5

    Entering commands, using computer terminal, and activating controls on computer and peripheral equipment to integrate and operate equipment

    Low
  5. 40.8

    Operating and controlling peripheral and related computer equipment

    Low
  6. 40

    Notifying supervisor or maintenance technician of equipment malfunctions

    Low
  7. 35

    Monitoring systems for equipment failure or errors in performance

    Low
  8. 20

    Loading peripheral equipment, such as printers, with selected materials for operating runs, or overseeing loading of peripheral equipment by peripheral equipment operators.

    Very Low

8 tasks · the High to Very Low labels are the ILO's

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.7-work-setting

Helped, or replaced?

The score above can't tell a tool that makes you faster from one that does the task instead of you. Jobs and Skills Australia looked at those two things separately, and this is their result, matched to this job.

One Australian job matches this one closely, so this is about as reliable as it gets here.

AI helps you
69
AI does it for you
53

Helping wins by 16 points.

estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.7-work-setting matched to Australian jobs 3131

Compared with similar jobs

There are 82 jobs in the “Technicians and associate professionals” group, averaging 65.5. This one is below that.